Bangor: Calls to save city's once-thriving high street

Calls have been made to save Bangor's struggling high street and help it thrive again.

Hard times have hit the city with shops closing and buildings falling apart.

Big names that had stores in the centre have left or gone out of business, leaving empty buildings.

The Antoniazzi Penguin Café opened in 1934, after owner Nick Antoniazzi's great-grandfather walked from Italy to Wales in search of a better life in 1898.

"If you think back to the 1990s and '80s, things were booming here," Mr Antoniazzi said.

He recalled the now-demolished Wellfield Shopping Centre being full of shops.

"There were around 50 occupied business units, with Woolworths drawing people in and Debenhams at the top of the high street," he said.

No more. Mr Antoniazzi said things began going wrong almost 20 years ago after Tesco and other big firms were allowed to open out-of-town stores.

Then the Wellfield centre was knocked down and replaced by Canolfan Menai.

Where the Wellfield had small units for small companies, the new centre focused on big units for big businesses.

One was Debenhams, which closed its doors last year. The building remains empty.

"About 100 staff worked there in total," said Mr Antoniazzi.

"We did a buffet in Debenhams, and the staff there supported local businesses at lunch or before going to work."

Mr Antoniazzi said something had to be done to attract people into the city centre.

He said: "This place needs a lot of help. I feel we're by ourselves and having to fight for this place, and nothing's happening."

Nearby towns like Llandudno, Caernarfon and Menai Bridge, he said, were doing better.

After opening in the Wellfield in 1992, clothes shop Morgan moved to the High Street when the shopping centre closed in 2004.

As the area declined, owners Helga Morgan and Edward Allbutt saw fewer people visiting the city centre.

This summer they moved to Menai Bridge, on Anglesey, where business has improved.

Referring to the village by its Welsh name, Helga Morgan said: "Porthaethwy is a lovely place, and so people like to come here when they maybe aren't so keen on going to Bangor."

And business rates are lower.

Ms Morgan and Mr Allbutt were stunned Bangor rates were higher than those in Chester or Pontcanna, Cardiff.

Mr Allbutt said the system was broken.

"For anyone with a new business, the costs are too high," he said.

The situation was worse in Bangor, he said, because companies from elsewhere own stores that were falling apart.

"They didn't spend on improving the buildings during the good times, they're just a way of making money for the owner.

"It'll cost a fortune to improve them, but they can't have tenants without doing that because the places are so bad."

The problem could be solved if Gwynedd council bought the buildings, according to councillor Nigel Pickavance.

Mr Pickavance said the authority could do this as they were in such bad condition, have been empty for a long time and are impeding business on the high street.

Gwynedd council said it hoped to get grants to revive the city, including from the UK and Welsh governments, the National Lottery and the Arts Council.

Mr Pickavance said the city should be marketed as a visitor attraction.

There should be more events, he said, and less reliance on big companies.

"We cannot look at Bangor as a place solely for shops - it needs to more than that," he said.

He cited Menai Bridge and Caernarfon as examples to follow.

"It needs a lot of work and that will require money, but we've reached the point where people are saying it's now or never," he said.

"It won't happen overnight, but we need to make somewhere that the next generation is proud of."